MOBILE, Alabama — Apparently accepting a self-defense argument, a jury this afternoon acquitted a Chunchula man charged with severely injuring a man with heavy metal rake during a dispute over as little as $10.

James Preston Glover, 39, had been charged with first-degree assault. According to undisputed testimony, he grabbed the rake at the home of Johnny Giddens on Mason Ferry Road and whacked him in the face on July 19, 2009. But defense attorney Joe Altadonna said his client did so only after Giddens smacked him in the head with a shovel.

“I hope everybody’s over it,” Altadonna said following the verdict, not guilty on first- and third-degree assault charges.

Altadonna noted during his closing argument medical records showing that his client suffered a gunshot wound to the shoulder, an injury that a friend testified occurred when the defendant had his hand on the door of his vehicle. The defendant was preparing to drive away after trying to collect money that Glover owed him, according to the testimony.

“He got shot in the back,” he told jurors today. “He was leaving.”

Giddens, Altadonna argued, started the violence.

“Totally off the scale to hit somebody with a shovel,” he said. “Not off the scale to defend yourself with what you can grab.”

During his summation, Assistant District Attorney Tim Douthit displayed a picture of the heavily bandaged Giddens. He picked up the rake and showed it the jurors.

“Look at this thing. It’s heavy. It’s sharp. How do we know this is capable of causing serious physical injury? Because it did,” he said, gesturing to the photo on an overhead screen. “It ripped half his face off.”

Douthit said photos of Giddens confirm his account, while photos of the defendant contradict his.

“It is literally unbelievable,” he said. “Arnold Schwarzenegger doesn’t get hit in the head with a shovel and pop back up like, let alone someone in the real world.”

Douthit also attacked the credibility of the defendant’s friend, arguing that the account had too many inconsistencies to be believed.

“The only evidence that this was self-defense was the word of Justin Wright, the one witness they brought to the stand,” he said.

Altadonna said that in addition to bruise on the side of his client’s head, Glover also suffered a fractured skull that is not visible in the photo.

“It’s a fact that James Glover must have been hit by some object, and that object was a shovel,” he said. “It’s not as impressive as (the injuries suffered by) Johnny Giddens. The skull is hard and the flesh is weak.”

As for inconsistencies in the Wright’s testimony, he noted that the incident took place in 2009 and suggested that Giddens and a relative who testified spent the time coordinating their stories.

“Justin Wright had three years to forget this,” he said. “They had three years to plot and plan.”

Updated at 5:10 p.m. to include reaction from the defendant's attorney.